Fargo Dentist - Safer Amalgam Removal - Dr. Jim Lundstrom

Removal of your amalgam involves cutting the amalgam with a dental bur which produces very small particles with vastly increased surface area, and vastly increased potential for subjecting the people present to a mercury exposure. Taking out fillings with a high speed dental bur generates a cloud of particles, at least 65% of which are one micron or less in size. These are fully respirable, get deep into the lungs, where the microscopic particles are broken down and the mercury is systemically absorbed within a few days. This mercury exposure can be as much as a hundred times greater than that from the vapor.

The mercury free dentists of the world have been acutely aware of the excess exposure problem, and have devised a number of strategies for reducing the amount of mercury exposure to both patients and dental staff during amalgam removal.